Uncover Rubies with Your Mum this Mother’s Day

This year, Mother’s Day falls on the 12 of May. Instead of having the usual celebratory meal with your Mum, why not get her to embark with you on The Rubylicious Adventure and ‘uncover some rubies’ together?

The Rubylicious Adventure

The rubies I’m referring to are the Ruby Chocolate-inspired dishes offered by various cafes and restaurants for a limited period of time.

The Rubylicious Adventure is like a food trail which is organised by FoodXervices Inc. It is a specially curated experience to uncover the hidden pleasures of the 4th chocolate – Ruby Chocolate.

The Fourth Chocolate – Ruby Chocolate

As to date, you probably have tried the popular three chocolate variants – dark, milk and white chocolate. But have you tried this new chocolate variant which has a natural pinkish colour to it? It was Callebaut, a Belgian Chocolate manufacturer, who discovered Ruby Chocolate.

Ruby chocolate is obtained from ruby cocoa beans. And the chocolate itself has a beautiful red-pink colour and fruity taste. It has hints of berry notes and a slightly sourish taste to it.

It’s such an exotic type of chocolate which you should try it first hand with the person whom you love the most – your mum.

I took my mum to ‘unlock some rubies’ with me last week but we have yet to cover all of them!

Unlocking the Rubies

There are a total of 8 rubies to be unlocked across the six dining cafes and restaurants in Singapore. Some of the dining partners include The Dark Gallery, Tanuki Raw, Plentyfull and Neon Pigeon. And these are the places you have to go to in order to ‘unlock the rubies’.

2 out of the 8 rubies are actually savoury items and the rest of them are desserts. And you can start ‘unlocking rubies’ from now til 31 May 2019.

How it works

Before you begin your Rubylicious adventure, purchase your tickets online via FoodXervices (https://foodxervices.com/rubylicious/).

Then, you will need to download Foodxervices app (Xtory) on your mobile device. Key in your pincode and begin ‘unlocking those precious rubies’!

We were given this handout by FoodXervices where we can scan the markers on the handout using our phones to validate and redeem the 8 creations.

In this interactive app, you can even find out more about the chef behind each creation and listen to a recommended playlist to get the beat going as you kickstart your Rubylicious adventure.

First stop: Tanuki Raw

Rubikawa at Tanuki Raw by Kapok

Guess what’s this? It’s the most unexpected combination of ingredients – crispy chicken skin and ruby chocolate. They are dusted off with some freeze-dried raspberry bits. Sandwiched between the layer of chocolate and chicken skin is a thin sheet of Nori seaweed.

I love how the sweet and savoury notes balance out each other. This dish is best eaten with some sea salt. This is because the sea salt flakes actually enhance the fruity taste in the Ruby chocolate.

Overall, what you get is a very crunchy piece of crispy chicken skin which tasted like a snack on its own.

Second Stop: The Dark Gallery (At Takashimaya)

At The Dark Gallery, you can redeem 2 ‘rubies’ – Pastel Gems and Ruby Art.

Pastel Gems

I am so glad that The Dark Gallery is one of the participating outlets because their chocolate creations are truly amazing. This ruby chocolate-inspired set of Pastel Gems chocolate are stunning as well.

Each chocolate is crafted to look like a shape of a jewel. And each box of Paste gems has three chocolate varieties – Honey Yuzu Crumble, Smoked Oolong Caramel and Raspberry lime. All of these dainty-looking chocolates are made with Ruby chocolate.

You’ll just have to sink your teeth in to find out what’s hidden in each gem.

Ruby Art

This is yet another lovely Ruby chocolate-inspired dessert by The Dark Gallery. The Ruby Art comprises of The Dark Gallery’s signature 80% Dark Chocolate Ice cream coated with Ruby Chocolate. It nestles on a bed of Almond crumble and Ruby Chocolate Ganache. This dessert look extra pretty with the baked meringues, fresh raspberry and edible flowers.

It’s truly a work of art. The dark chocolate ice cream is superbly made with real chocolatey goodness. I dare say that they’ve got the finest chocolate ice cream in Singapore.

Third Stop: Neon Pigeon

RUBI by Neon Pigeon

Each ‘ruby’ just got better and better as we moved from one outlet to another. It was our last stop for that day and it also happened to be our favourite ‘ruby’ we had that day.

Neon Pigeon takes Ruby Chocolate up a notch by pairing their Ruby Chocolate-inspired dessert with a Ruby Chocolate-infused, sake-based cocktail. It’s an innovative take on the Ruby Chocolate as I would have never known that chocolates and Japanese Sake would complement each other.

The Cocktail

To put it simply, this sake-based cocktail tastes just like a light and frothy strawberry milkshake except that it had nuances of the alcoholic notes from the sake. It has a very refreshing and uplifting taste. And it just keeps you wanting more of it. Ladies (and maybe guys), you are going to love this drink. Even my non-alcoholic mum loves the smooth taste of this cocktail so I’m pretty sure yours would enjoy this too.

Ruby Chocolate Mousse-based Dessert

There is so much texture going on in this dessert. I can taste the soft creamy Ruby chocolate mousse along with the crumbly pistachio bits, honeycomb and raspberries. I love the way they presented this dessert that constantly excites my tastebuds as I savour each scoop of it. What a spectacular dessert it is!

So, that’s a total of 4 rubies uncovered. That means I’ve got 4 more to go. And I can’t wait to uncover them all! You might have to visit my Instagram (@deeniseglitz) to find out how I uncover the other 4 rubies.

You can purchase The Rubylicious Adventure tickets online on FoodXervices website (https://foodxervices.com/rubylicious/).

This adventure starts from now till 31 May 2019.

Update: We finally tried a couple more Ruby creations.

Rubyrazz by Patisserie G

This is a lovely dessert incorporating pure Ruby chocolate with raspberry, yuzu and chocolate praline. If there should be a class ruby chocolate dessert, this should be it. There is a lot of textures and flavours going on in this one small and dainty dessert. For me, it is definitely a job well done by Patisserie G.

Bashful by Patisserie G

Since Easter was just around the corner when the Rubylicious adventure was launched, Patisserie G offered bunny-shaped Ruby Chocolate. They have incorporated some good quality dark chocolate to make the long bunny ears and eyes. If you want to have a taste of how pure Ruby chocolate taste like, then go for this chocolate bunny!

Ruby Foie Gras Parfait on Herb Waffles by Plentyfull

This savoury dish was the most highly anticipated dish in the list of Ruby creations because of the interesting combination of ingredients used. How is it possible to mix foie gras with ruby chocolate and then pair them with kale and chives? It is hard for me to imagine how the marriage of these flavours would turn out to be.

Initially, it was confusing. The sharp herbaceous taste of the waffles actually dampened the sweet creamy flavours of the Ruby chocolate and Foie gras. In addition, they served too huge of a portion of Ruby chocolate foie gras over a skinny slice of waffles. They were very generous but the overall dish just isn’t balanced in taste. Subsequently, we decided to give our honest feedback by posting our earnest comments on our food Instagram page.

Lo and behold, we were surprised that Plentyfull did take our feedback seriously. When we headed back there once more, they have reduced the serving of the foie gras and modified their ratio of ingredients.

Their dish tasted so much better than before after they made the adjustments. I believe that they have reduced the herbaceous taste in the waffles and added more Ruby chocolate to the foie gras mousse to bring out the sweet chocolatey favours of the Ruby chocolate itself. This time, things were so much better than before. It is amazing how little tweaks and changes to the recipes can affect the taste of the overall dish! Nonetheless, it was a bold attempt from Plentyfull. And I definitely have to make a trip back there to try out their other promising dishes!